We never named them until it was sure they would survive

“We never named them until it was sure they would survive” explores a post–mass-production future shaped by environmental collapse caused by overconsumption. Imagining a global shutdown of mass production in 2068, the project examines humanity’s dependence on manufactured abundance enabled by capitalism. In response, survivalist strategies rethink object-making through the principle form follows fluid function. By stripping objects of fixed meaning, they become modular raw material, to be transformed as needed. Monochromatic assemblages are bound with rope techniques that allow constant reuse and reconfiguration, creating temporary objects, reflecting on past, present, and future human needs.

Christoph Wimmer-Ruelland is an Austro-Canadian designer and artist based in Vienna. His work recontextualizes objects to question their uses, codes, and the systems they embody, reassessing conventions in response to social and industrial transformations through design, art, research, spaces, and exhibitions.